The Land in the Sky
by Twylise
Summary: A Darkangel Trilogy (by Meredith Ann Pierce) fic. An unlikely discovery sends Aeriel and co. on a journey to a strange land in search of new allies.
1. Chapter 1

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The Land in the Sky

Chapter 1

She glided silently through the maze of tents. The material shelters moved past her line of vision in a coloured blur of pale blue, faded rose, deep indigo and striking green… 

The colour that caused awed stares and hurried whispers to follow.

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"Did you see? Did you see?"

"That was her!"

"Could it be?"

"Sorceress…"

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"Witch."

"Our saviour."

"She looked this way!"

"Can you see her eyes?"

"They were green…"

As far as Aeriel was concerned she was just as unremarkable as those anonymous voices that barely reached her ears. As mingled and undefined as the wind. Yet their words still bothered her. 

"Our saviour."

Aeriel had been raised, as all slaves were, to be invisible. She had always been told that she had been inconsequential and now…

She was expected to be _so _much.

So much that she could never hope to be. 

Even her presence at the meeting she was now travelling to seemed to be a joke. What could she possibly have to contribute?

It would only be a little while longer before she arrived

Maybe, Aeriel mused, it wasn't her new found position of power that she feared so much; as having to see her 'husband'. 

Irrylath…

And then Sabr. 

Together.

Even though Irrylath had only met his cousin the previous year, the bandit queen had been allowed to bond with and know the former darkangel in ways his wife could only dream of. It was now quite common to see the two of them strolling together, discussing strategies, sharing meals and even having the occasional spar, all the while seeming as close and contented with each others' company as the closet of friends.

Or lovers. 

Aeriel knew that Irrylath couldn't be betraying her in a physical sense, his ties to the White Witch made it impossible for him to lie with any woman while her hold on him remained. The pale girl also understood that with Irrylath and Sabr being of kin and having such similar characters they were bound to be, pardon the pun, as thick as thieves. Yet she only wished that Irrylath would be more willing to share his company with her on occasion as well as Sabr. 

Aeriel _loved_ Irrylath, she had loved with all of her previous heart, the one that now beat in her husband's chest and also with his former heart, which now beat in hers. 

She loved him so much that even with the chaotic and worrisome business of preparing for war, Irrylath still occupied most of her thoughts throughout the day.

And she loved him so much that it felt that her soul was ripped in two every time he turned her away in favour of spending time with his troops or Sabr. Every time his eyes would focus onto the horizon, the tents, his sword... anywhere but on _her_.

Aeriel was so lost in her thoughts that she was startled to find herself already standing in front of the canvas flap that separated the meeting tent from the outside world. She hesitated for a moment, remembering all her previous doubts as to how essential her presence would or rather would not be.

But finally, the burden of her unwanted role and duties weighing heavily on her heart, she gave a defeated sigh and stepped inside.

"Aeriel, dear heart." The Lady Syllva greeted warmly as she took her daughter-in-law by the arm, "I'm so glad your finally here. Please come inside." 

Both to Aeriel's great joy and dread, Syllva lead her to a place next to Irrylath at the table. Heart fluttering wildly in her chest, Aeriel offered her husband-in-name a weak smile. This he rewarded with a polite but brief nod, before facing forward again. 

Sabr was sitting on his other side.

The pale girl noted with some embarrassment that she had been the very last to arrive at the meeting. Irrylath's six half brothers were already there, sitting across from her and chattering loudly about sword fighting techniques with Aeriel's own brother Roshka. Her dear friend Talb, the duarough was also there, talking respectfully to Pendarlon. As if sensing Aeriel's unnatural eyes on him, the dwarf looked up and winked at her. Pendarlon was not the only lon present; Bernalon the wolf-guardian of Bern and Zambulon the great, winged cat, were also in attendance. 

"Aeriel!" 

It seemed like the so-called sorceress, was not in fact the last to arrive, her dear friend and companion Erin had only just pushed through the tent flap, panting heavily. With the islander's dark, dark skin it was impossible to tell whether or not her face was flushed but Aeriel could only assumed that if the other girl's skin were as pale as her own her cheeks would be bright red. 

"Aeriel!" The islander repeated, louder this time, her voice clearer, not quite so breathless. She was grinning wildly, the whiteness of her teeth incredibly striking against the jet background of her face. 

Despite her melancholy mood, Aeriel couldn't help being moved by her friend's obvious good cheer. 

"Yes, Erin?" She managed a small smile, that, while unable to rival Erin's was still full of warmth and affection. 

Aeriel's smile mustn't have been too half hearted, because the dark girl's only got brighter in response. "Can you come outside for a minute? There's something that I want to tell you."

She immediately rose to go meet her friend but Aeriel's movement was impended by a long, elegant hand that swiftly grabbed hold of her sleeve and pulled her back into her seat. 

"The conclave is _about_ to begin." Irrylath's tone was quite cool but Aeriel still found herself filled with joy at the sound of his voice. Her husband spoke to her so rarely these days, that it was a blessing to have his attention for a moment; even if it was only chastisement. 

"I'm sure it's nothing so important that it can't wait until afterwards." 

No, Aeriel realized, Irrylath's voice wasn't completely devoid of emotion, there was a touch of annoyance to it. She wondered what she could have done to rile him but soon realized her husband's irritation wasn't directed towards herself. 

He was glaring at Erin.

"Although if you had had the decency to arrive _on time_, or Ancient's forbid, early," The agitation in his voice had increased, "Then maybe you would have had time for private discussions but for now I'll have to _ask _you, to take your seat."

"And may I ask what right you have to order me around, _your majesty_." Erin spat, unwilling to back down from the prince. "I arrived only a little later than the set time, and I have my reasons."

"Oh?" Irrylath inquired, sarcastically, "And what are they, pray tell?"

"I don't need to explain myself to _you…You prig!!_"

The other occupants of the tent could only watch with astonishment as the islander and prince's quarrel deteriorated into a shouting match.

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"What did you call me you worthless---"

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"Oh? Are you deaf as well?"

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"I'm not, but you will be once I—"

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"Violent brute!!!"

"Savage wench!!!"

"Arrogant ba----"

"STOP THAT!!! YOU'RE BOTH ACTING LIKE CHILDREN!!!"

Irrylath and Erin froze simultaneously, mouths still hanging open, ready to deliver their next insults. 

This outburst had, surprisingly enough, come from the normally good-natured Lady of Isternes. Her violet eyes dark and scolding, Aeriel was, for the first time, aware of her husband's resemblance to his mother. 

Silently, Irrylath and Erin took their seats; Irrylath returning to his that had been abandoned during the argument and Erin slowly sinking into her place beside Aeriel. 

She grinned again at the pale girl but Aeriel didn't notice. She was too busy staring at Syllva, who was once again looking as sweet and collected as she always did. 

Noticing the line of Aeriel's gaze, Hadin leaned across the table to whisper conspiratorially, "How else do you think she managed to keep all of us in line when we were younger?"

Despite the softness of his tone his mother had still heard Hadin's words. Irrylath-glare once more in place she stared her youngest son down for a moment before breaking into giggles. 

"Well thank goodness you all aren't that young any more!" Her smile was brilliant as she leaned one pale cheek upon her curved palm, "You can behave yourselves now."

Now it was Sybil's turn to whisper to Aeriel, "She doesn't know about the revels!"

"I know a lot more than you think I do." Syllva smirked at her Istern born-sons' horrified faces. "Now, now….Don't look so scared. I understand that while you are all no longer children you are still young and have a right to enjoy yourselves…"

"Ah….I'm sorry to interrupt, Lady, but shouldn't we focus are attention back to the matter at hand?" The Pendarlon growled gently as he gestured to the map on the table with one razor tipped claw.

Instantly the easygoing, informal atmosphere vanished from the tent vanished as battle strategies and war plans flew across the table and Aeriel fond herself struggling to keep up and make sense of all that was said…

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"If the lons attack in this formation…" 

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"Can you make more of those arrows?"

"But what about the Witch's illusions? We need to find a way to…"

Even Erin, who had only recently been chosen to lead the newly recruited Islanders in the war, and who couldn't possibly have had any previous experience with combat training, seemed to be keeping abreast of the situation and was throwing in her suggestions just as quickly as everyone else. 

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'No, no, no! Even an army of babes wouldn't be deceived by that tactic!"

"Maybe we should wait another few months and train the troops befor…"

Aeriel's head was aching from trying to understand it all. It seemed everyone was shouting constantly and the voices overlapped and over rode each other so much that eventually they all blurred into once constant throbbing mix of anger and passion…

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"But!"

"What if…"

****

"Sorceress?"

After a few moments the pounding in Aeriel's head paused long enough for her to realize that one of those shrilling voices was taking to _her._ It was Sabr.

"Yes?" She replied, a little weakly.

"Do you have anything to contribute? You seem a little quiet."

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Aeriel wondered if it was her imagination or if Sabr truly was smirking at her. She tried to say something but found her throat was too dry for even a single word to escape from it. 

With that uncanny ability that Erin seemed to posses to instantaneously realise Aeriel's desires, the dark girl nimbly plucked a half filled flagon of water off the table that was previously being used to weigh down one corner of the map. Aeriel gratefully accepted it as it was passed to her and was just about to sip it. When something caught her eye.

"Aozora?" She pointed to the region of the map that had been covered by the flagon, "I've never heard of that land before..."

**__**

To be continued

Well that the first chapter, sorry nothing much happened. Hopefully the pace will pick up a bit more. Aozora is Japanese for 'blue, empty sky'. Well at least that's what my dictionary told me. So if you that together with the title you can probably guess what this story is going to be about ^_^ 


	2. Chapter 2

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Author Notes: Weeee! I didn't realise that there were so many Darkangel trilogy fans around! Thank you very much ailpods1986, Rashiea, Calcifersgrl, Mel, RaspberryGirl, Saranha de Angelo, LadyofLorien, Hyacinth Myst (Mystique in Japanese is apparently shinpisei) and ah...'Me', whoever you are. 

And an extra special thanks to Jezebel for constantly pushing me along with this chapter and helping me with some of my tricker creative decisions. ~hugs~

Just to clear up some confusion, this story is set during that time before the start of the actual war, when everyone was loitering around in the desert. So at this point in time Aeriel and Irrylath's relationship is still pretty rocky. Aeriel can only assume that Irrylath doesn't love her, as he is always pushing her away. And Irrylath for his part seems to be showing a great deal of interest in Sabr….

Um….And also as to why I've been taking so long to update this along with my other fics…well…ah…I could tell you all about how busy I've been with school and how I've been suffering from writers block (which **is** part of the reason) but the real truth of the matter is this this: I'm lazy. Terribly, terribly slack and lazy. : ( I'm very sorry everyone. I'll try and do better now that I'm almost starting summer holidays. 

Also I apologise if there are some mistakes in this chapter too…I tried to fix everything up as best as I could. So if you see anything feel free to point it out and I'll fix it. (Thanks btw Saranha de Angelo and RaspberryGirl : ) I've revised the first chapter and fixed up the ones you guys pointed out)

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Disclaimer: I do not own the Darkangel Trilogy, Meredith Ann Pierce does, and if I **was** Meredith Ann Pierce don't you think my writing standard would be a little (a lot) better? 

**__**

The Land in the Sky

Chapter 2

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The once boisterous crowd turned silent as all eyes fixed on the map. Gazes locked on a particular point, just a little below where Aeriel's pale index finger rested. An inked sketch of snow capped mountains rose proudly from the faded parchment, with that odd sounding name scrawled gracefully above the topmost peak. 

"Well…" The Lady Syllva was the first to speak, "I must say I am in full agreement with you, my dear Aeriel, I've never even noticed this 'Aozora' on the map before, let alone know anything about it."

"Do any of your troops come from there?" Irrylath questioned Sabr; "After all it is part of Westernese."

Sabr shook her head; "I make it my business to know everything about every single last one of my fighters. I would most certainly know if they came from…whatever place this is. It's strange." Her voice was clouded with fascination as the bandit queen leaned over the table to get a closer view of the chart.

Aeriel silently agreed with her rival. Even just looking at the simplistic drawing on the map made a little shiver run up her spine. There wasn't any justifiable reason for this excitement, there where probably plenty of smaller, quieter countries that had been overlooked in their speedy preparations for war. There was no need for any fuss, the sensible thing would be to forget about this discovery and continue on with the meeting. 

But she couldn't. She found herself compelled, almost hypnotized, into gazing down at the image of distant mountain ranges.

"Does _anyone_ know anything about this land." Aeriel asked at last.

Unfortunately, her question received a negative response from the rest of the tent's occupants. Even the learned Talb had nothing to offer. 

"It used to be this world's center of magic and learning." The words were spoken from right beside Aeriel's left ear and the pale girl jumped in fright. This abrupt motion sent the heron flying from her shoulder with an indignant squawk.

"It's you! Heron!" Aeriel cried, eyes finally torn from the map to rest on the bird that had so suddenly appeared.

"Yes, it is I." The snowy creature sniffed haughtily from her new perch atop Talb's hat, obviously displeased with Aeriel for giving her such a shock.

Aeriel quickly realized that most of the table, with the exception of Talb and Erin, were now staring at both her and the heron with astonishment. Some introductions may be in order. 

"This is ah…" Aeriel fumbled, unsure how she could possibly explain her feathered friend to her comrades. "This is Heron." She stated finally. Hopefully, they could work the rest out for themselves.

"Pleased to meet you Heron, I am Syllva, the Lady of Isternes." Ah, Lady Syllva, always the diplomat. Quickly the rest of the table followed the Lady's example, politely introducing themselves to the bird. Heron, for her part, bowed to each new acquaintance gracefully, her ego now assuaged. 

"You were saying something about Aozora?" Roshka prompted.

Heron nodded. "Yes, I said it used to be corner stone of this world's magical community. Lonwury is as simple and unrefined as a fishing village compared to the grandeur that was once Aozora." Here, the bird paused in her speech to cast a cool look Talb, who had snorted loudly in response to her last comment. Aeriel remembered that the duarough had learnt his own magic at Lonwury. 

"I'm surprised that you managed to gain hold of a map with Aozora's location on it though. No one has been able to journey there for centuries. It's because of the snow you see." Heron tapped the mountain peaks with her bill. "Once the world started to fall into disarray, that land's climate slipped out of the Ancients' control. There are terrible blizzards and avalanches that make it almost impossible to reach the heart of Aozora itself, which lies in a valley between these mountain ranges."

Irrylath moved leaned forward to observe the map in more detail. But in order to do so he had to lean slightly on the person sitting directly before it: Aeriel.

The pale girl had to concentrate so hard on not trembling at her husband's sudden closeness, that the world around her began to fade a little. The faces of her allies and family were as blurred and fragmented as one's reflections in water. The words they spoke as muddled and senseless as the droning of insects, each syllable melding into the next so thoroughly that no identifiable sentence could be pulled apart from the tangled mess Aeriel's mind registered. The only thing she could understand was that even through the rough material of his sark, she could feel the heat coming off of her husband's skin. 

Then after what seemed like an eternity, Irrylath spoke. His rich, husky voice bringing Aeriel back to the present time, inside the tent, with her comrades and the heron, the latter to whom Irrylath was addressing his question. 

"This map, I feel something from it. A _pull _of some sort." Aeriel couldn't help but noticing, that there was a slight tremor to her husband's voice. It was so slight, so minuscule, that if Aeriel hadn't been so close to Irrylath at the time she wouldn't have realised it was there at all. But it was. 

The prince continued, "Is there perhaps, some enchantment upon it?"

Ah…so that was the cause of Irrylath's discomfort. With his past history, it was no surprise to Aeriel that the prince probably loathed the idea of being controlled by any magic. Even if it was as impartial and benign as this map seemed to be.

"Of course," Heron said in reply to the prince's query, "This map was specially designed by the Aozorans to aid travellers who were coming to their country; back when they had scores of visitors coming to seek aid and teachings from their high mages. Those days being long gone, specimens like this," the bird nudged the parchment with her long bill, "are quite rare."

"But why wasn't this magic working before?" Hadin wondered aloud, "I mean…Wouldn't we have noticed earlier if the map was trying to direct us in someway?"

Everyone murmured in agreement. 

Except for Talb, who had sunk a little lower into his chair, his cheeks a dusky pink, and a sheepish expression on his face. 

Slowly the rest of the table gradually became aware of the duarough's awkwardness and turned in their seats as one to stare at him curiously.

The Pendarlon growled in rough, yet not unfriendly tones, "Little mage…I don't suppose you might know something about this?"

"Well…ah…you see the thing is…" The diminutive wizard's face flushed further, "I was just looking over our old map earlier, when I started feeling thirsty. Well, since we all know with the witch's drought, that water is a bit lacking, and I thought it best I left off having some so there would be more for the troops…and the flagon of mead was _right there_, all rather convenient you know, one little sip probably wouldn't hurt…"

"Are you trying to tell us that you spilt mead all over are old map?" Syllva prodded gently.

For an instant Talb looked quite surprised, his jaw hanging slack as he stared at the Lady with genuine befuddlement, then…"Yes, yes of course my dear Lady! Ah…that is to say I'm terribly, terribly sorry! The entire parchment was soaked through, entirely beyond repair. It was quite fortunate, however that I was able to find this substitute hidden between the pages of one of my older books."

Aeriel couldn't help but notice that through all of the mage's talk, Erin had been sniggering quite loudly into her fist. Upon looking up and seeing her friend's confusion, the dark girl moved her hand from her face long enough to flash Aeriel a toothy grin and a wink. 

"Perhaps the book you found it in had once come from Aozora then. So that is one mystery solved." The Lady said to Talb. She then turned to the heron and asked, "How long do you think it would take for a small band of our number to travel to Aozora?" 

"Two daymoths I'd wager…Although that's only if the journey is a smooth and efficient one."

"And, do you think there are still people living there in this city, people that know powerful magics?" 

Heron tilted her head to the side thoughtfully for a moment before nodding gracefully, "I suppose so, otherwise the map wouldn't continue to work."

The Lady smiled brilliantly; "Well I suppose we had better get organised quickly, if he want to get to Aozora and back before the Witch decides to start this war without us."

This statement was met with a stunned silence by the rest of the table. 

"Oh now come on all of you!" The Lady said, "Surely you must realise, that if we could gain aid from these Aozorans it would be of great benefit to our cause. The witch is a powerful Sorceress and we will need magic of our own to combat her's."

"But…We already have Talb," Roshka counted warily, "And Aeriel too, surely that should be enough."

"Still… the more advantages we can have, the more likely we are to win this war." 

"But how should we do this? Can we be expected to merely abandon the troops to run off on what might very well be a random goose chase."

Syllva paused to think for a moment before slowly answering, "Ah...so it that case it might be best to only send a small party. A handful of troops, maybe two of you boys who don't have too much to do at the moment…Talb and Aeriel of course as our resident magic users…" The lady's voice turned sweet and gentle now, "Would that be alright with you Aeriel, dearheart?"

But Aeriel wasn't listening, because at that moment Irrylath had become aware of just how very close he was sitting to his 'wife', he jerked away from her and leaned back into his seat quickly, as if her very touch was repellent. 

Aeriel wondered if she should be relieved that she was the only one to see the horrified look in his eyes. 

*~*

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TBC


End file.
